Qiyun Zheng

What is performance?

Performance has many meanings in different fields, but in the context of our discussion, it is a collection of restored behaviors, acted with intentions by the performer/artist to influence other participants.

How social conditions impact the way we understand performance?

First, social conditions shape the way we perceive the “norm”, and also the “norm” of the body, so some performances might be concluded as using “shock tactics”, but performance is actually reminding people to change their way of thinking shaped by social conditions by breaking the “norm”.

Second, social conditions used to determine a “disinterested” attitude towards performance, where the interpreter determined the meaning or value of the artwork. However, performance welcomes interpretations and does not possess an explanation.

What do we mean by the term “body”, and how does the body perform?

“Body” is more than the physical form of the performer, but is also a political stage where all the conflicts – subjectivity vs. objectivity, nature vs. culture, life vs. death – are going on. “Body” can be shaped, trained, and transformed, it seems like it’s the only remaining “real” thing a person can possess, but with the intrusion of technology, it becomes an unstable answer. “Body” can also be an animal’s body, living or dead.

The body can perform as the subject, the object, or both. It can repeat daily life actions or becomes the media for experiments with time and space or identity.